Togo on Tuesday inaugurated West Africa’s largest solar plant, which is located some 250 km north of capital city Lome, reported Africa News.
The 50-megawatt facility, located in central Togo, is expected to provide power to more than 158,000 households and save more than one million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The solar plant has been built by AMEA Togo Solar, a subsidiary of Dubai-based AMEA Power. It hosts 127,344 solar panels expected to produce 90.255 megawatt-hours (MWh) of power per year.
The plant has been named after the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. It received more than 35 billion CFA francs ($63.7 million) in loans from the West African Development Bank and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.
“This project is the fruit of our ambition to bring universal access to electricity and provide clean and renewable energy to all,” Faure Gnassingbe, the president of Togo, wrote on social media. “I am thrilled it was done in record time”.
During the launch ceremony, Togolese Mines Minister Mila Aziable explained that the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed 50 megawatt-peak power plant is the largest solar photovoltaic plant in the sub-region that uses solar tracker technology, which increases the efficiency of solar panels by making them follow the path of the sun.
The inauguration of the solar plant project is the latest in a push to increase access to electricity and develop renewables in the West African country.
“Togo is blessed with resources, Togo is blessed with the sun, so this is one major way of obtaining power,” AMEA Power Chairman Hussain Jasim Al Nowais added.
Togo, which imports more than half of its energy from Nigeria and Ghana, is banking on solar power to develop access to electricity for its eight million residents.
By the end of the year, it is expected that the 127,344 solar panels will produce 90.255 megawatt-hours (MWh) of power per year. Furthermore, the capacity for an additional 20 MW is scheduled to be built on the same site by the end of the year.
